Not a great month for covers, in my opinion, but one artist was at the top of his game...

5 Exiles Then and Now - very peculiar groupshot, almost bland but strangely intriguing, nonetheless (especially stoned Psyclocke )

4 Foolkiller 4 - the sheer oddity of the situation sells it to me

3 Th'underbolts 119 - weird maltese cross thing going on but Djurdevic does the T'bolts so well.

2 Ultimate X-Men 90 - nice colours, nice angle, very cool.

1 Black Panther 34 - Brilliant! Storm as Cleopatra Jones - that's just flippin' genius!

Yes, well done, Salvador Larocca, the rest of the artists were caught napping!

Failing to see what’s wrong with Daryl Hannah in the Ms. Marvel cover.

I don't like the way Horn uses models for Marvel, but here, he's not even using the SAME model as previous issues, so it looks worse than normal.

Warbound 2: Thor met Korg waaaaay back in (I think) JIM83.

Right, that's why I was wondering when he'll meet Thor to get his revenge.

It'd be pretty weird otherwise to wonder when Korg would meet Thor, no?

Ugh! I’m sorry, but that Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #35 cover is hideous. It looks like Venom possessed the Blob, or maybe like Spider-Man is getting attacked by a really ugly Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon.

I like Venom as a big ol' monster-looking dude!

Maybe, maybe not. He first appeared in Hudlin’s Black Panther #23, and it was widely suspected that he was being set up as Bill’s replacement, but he was just an unnamed nephew in that issue. He didn’t get the name “Tom Foster” until Incredible Hulk #107, six months later, and I don’t think he ever appeared in BP in the interim.

So it could be that Hudlin came up with the character, failed to name him or ever use him again, and then let Pak and McDuffie take over the guy. Or it could be that somebody else came up with the idea of Tom, and Hudlin was given the job of working him into a script.

It seemed like Hudlin to me, but I am curious if anyone else knows for sure.

That She-Hulk cover is an homage to an old 1980’s house-ad for the HULK’s book.

I didn't know when I first saw it, but your comment has jogged my memory!

That is a pretty obscure homage there!

The Exiles cover would be better if Marvel didn’t already spoil the roster with the new “Bullpen Bulletins” or whatever it is their putting in the back pages now. But hey, what are you going to do? By their very nature cover previews are spoilers.

To be fair, Adam, when these covers were originally solicited, the roster had not yet been spoiled.

C’mon Brian. That Paul Pope Silver Surfer is hideous! The only thing its got going for it is Kirby Krackle.

Nope. It's also really cool-looking.

See how this goes?

Haha, no! Also, regarding who was on the cover - in this case I was given a specific list of people to include.

Oh yeah, Francis, looking at my comment, it looked like I was "blaming" you for the characters on the cover.

That was definitely not my intention, as clearly, that was an editorial decision, not yours.

Sorry for being unclear.

Did you mean for it to look like Psylocke was stoned on the cover?"

Haha, no! Also, regarding who was on the cover - in this case I was given a specific list of people to include.

I don't LIKE the cover...I think it's awful...but I don't see what's wrong with her.

But, assuming you're right and there's something weird about it I'm not picking up, isn't it funny how Horn and Land are now messing up even tracing?!

Ms. Marvel 23: people reflected in a monster’s eyes aren't supposed to look deformed ?!!
The same for Avengers: Initiative 9 & Taskmaster shield.

The Twelve 1: nice job with facial expression on this cover, yeah you clearly understand that Electro is doing it loud & that the other characters stopped breathing

Joshua Strasburg: I don't like Pope's style too.

Marvel, please stop rendering Spider-Man with a gigantic head! PLEEEEEEEEASE !!

Black Panther: Isn't that "Thundercats" symbol great! Totally appropriate for the title character.

Warbound 2: Thor met Korg waaaaay back in (I think) JIM83.

New X-Men 46: Wow. Psychic armor. Is it me, or are powers getting less & less original. I know we've been going at it for 70 years, but still...

MA S-M 35: Venom is getting more hulk-like with every passing year. Not so good.

Clabe & Deadpool 49: It has a distinct Frazetta feel to it. I like it a lot. Then again, I'm fretty biased towards Frazetta, so I can really get into an artist that digs him too.

Did Reggie Hudlin come up with Tom Foster?

Maybe, maybe not. He first appeared in Hudlin's Black Panther #23, and it was widely suspected that he was being set up as Bill's replacement, but he was just an unnamed nephew in that issue. He didn't get the name "Tom Foster" until Incredible Hulk #107, six months later, and I don't think he ever appeared in BP in the interim.

So it could be that Hudlin came up with the character, failed to name him or ever use him again, and then let Pak and McDuffie take over the guy. Or it could be that somebody else came up with the idea of Tom, and Hudlin was given the job of working him into a script.